


hiraeth

by lostillusion



Series: Kou!Mor AU [3]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Gen, IM NOT ADDING THE REST, Politics, Possessive Behavior, Slow Burn, all of them - Freeform, just all of the characters, some pretty dark thoughts from Kougyoku and sometimes Mor be ready, the Kou!Mor AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 23:11:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6303880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostillusion/pseuds/lostillusion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgiana turns her back away from the rusted cage she lived in for so long.<br/>Kougyoku realizes the cruelty the world offers.<br/>Underneath all of this violence and chaos, they somehow found each other and it doesn’t seem so bad anymore.</p><p>hiraeth (n) a homesickness for a home you can not return to, or that never was</p>
            </blockquote>





	hiraeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we are introduced to our current protagonists in their natural habitats: slavery and politics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BAAAAACK! And ready for action! ahahhaHhahHAHa okay i’m starting over agAIN but for those of you that don’t know; I’ve rewritten this twice (soon to be thrice counting this one) as Knight to My Princess (which wasn’t serious at ALL) and Silence; which was to test how I could format it. I know what it means by rewriting a story so many times bUT JUST HEAR ME OUT— the thing about me is that I keep rewriting because I want it to be the best it can be. Though it’s different from school work, this story means a lot to me, and I hope I can give these feelings of love and endearment I have for this AU through my writing.  
> thank you for those who’ve stuck with me for Silence and Knight to My Princess, and thank you new followers who will continue reading despite the unusual circumstances with this AU. I very much appreciate every one of you.

When she had looked up, it was already raining.

Various cheers from other children, other  _ not slave _ children, erupted as they ran out of their homes to play in the rare shower. The ground bustled with activity as Morgiana could only stare blankly at them, screaming and splashing. An empty feeling enveloped her entire core, and she wondered about the emotion she was feeling. Was it loneliness, sadness, or remorse? She could ponder the possibility; perhaps the  _ inevitability _ that these children would have a worser fate as they grew into adulthood.

The lone slave girl could not give any pennies of thoughts for hypotheticals. Morgiana wondered if she should mourn over the loss of her sympathy towards others, but the cool chains on her ankles clattering as she walked vanished that thought. Instead, there was an emotion she knew far too well: rage. The unfairness of her situation pushed her back towards what she was forced to call a “home” and her gaze caused many to scramble away from her path.

Morgiana continued on with her job, balancing the lemons on her head, trying to keep a neutral expression as she returned to the jail that imprisoned her for so long.

* * *

Kougyoku wished she could look at the stars.

Beside her were the palace attendants. Her father, the crowned Emperor Koutoku, called all of his children for attendance. It was supposedly a special day, as it was the night of his birth. It should be a happy day, for all of the royal family to celebrate.

Kougyoku just wanted to vomit.

It wasn’t as if she was repulsed by her own father’s celebration, heavens no! Kougyoku loved her father as much as a daughter would love a father that may or may not have been absent a good third of her life (meaning a lot). She was just anxious. It’s been a few months, maybe even a year or two since she’s been to the main palace, which was laughable. After all, she is the current eighth princess of the great Kou Empire, surely she has been to the main palace more than twice in her life! In her woes, she knew it was true. She, a bastard child between a king and a whore, could not even embrace her paternal lineage. Even in her eyes, no matter how much comfort her brothers gave to her, Ren Kougyoku only existed to disappoint, and disappoint she did. 

Almost to take her out of her gloom, her attendants tightened her sash as if they wished to choke her. She hoped that maybe if they tightened it hard enough, she’ll have an excuse for not coming to the party. Yes, asphyxiation seemed like a good excuse  _ and _ a clean way to die. 

“Lady Kougyoku, we are finished.” The head maid called to her. She twirled around in instinct and the servants clapped. It’s in that applause that Kougyoku  _ really _ looks at her clothes. The robe fits her like any tight-fitting glove would. The designs near the bottom were blossoms that supposedly would bloom every Spring; meticulously being born again and again. Those trees settle near her “home” as well, decorating their pink petals every Spring. 

Then Kougyoku wondered if it had any meaning as she noticed that the bottom of her dress was the only piece decorated with images. She didn’t have too long to ponder, as her attendants ushered her out of her home. 

As she walked along the wooden floorboards, waxed to the extent that they sparkled under the moonlight. She kept her hands folded over each other, hidden from sight by her robes. In repetition, she reminded the correct stances for graceful walking, and had hoped she didn’t fall away too much from the standard. The maids had given her no mind, and match alongside her, keeping with her pace. Though, once in awhile, they would hasten their pace to make her walk faster. Kougyoku knew she was slow, and hoped that they would forgive her.

After the walk from her home to the connecting palace, which felt like an eternity, she could hear the cheers and joy of the party. It seems that Emperor Koutoku started the party early, or perhaps she arrived late. Kougyoku hoped that it was the latter, it would be easier to make an excuse for illness and not attend the festivities. 

Her stomach crushed under the pressure of the knots forming in her guts. It was in this manner, sick and nauseated, that she entered through the grand doors of the main palace ballroom.

* * *

Morgiana bit her tongue as she felt the crackle of the whip in the area between her shoulders. Hit after hit the pain spread throughout the area of her back. Morgiana closed her eyes and remained stoned-face throughout the entirety of the punishment. The years she had spent with that man had taught her many lessons, and this was the first one: show no emotion, for emotion is what drives him.

The whipping turn into a beating. His fists were raised one after the other, the blows smashing into her face. She continued to close her eyes and made no sound of her pain, no outcry or pleading escaped her thin lips as he continued to bear his anger and hatred onto her. Morgiana believed that if she could last years and years with this man, she could continue another day and so on. This attitude created a routine for both the prisoner and her warden.

She felt herself being lifted off the ground, and she closed her eyes harder than she was previously. She would not look. She would not look. Morgiana repeated this in her mind. There must be no reaction, else she would come to further harm. She stayed there, lifted into the air, for a few more moments before he dropped her. He mumbled some obscure words that Morgiana dared not follow, and lied there for a longer period of time until she heard the tent flap flutter. She evened her breathing and didn’t move an inch. She could not bare to open her eyes, as they had became swollen from the punches he did not pull. Morgiana could not and would not stay like that for long though, as she could stand a bit more pain. 

The slave wondered if she could stay there and rot, listing all the reasons why she should. Morgiana would do literally anything to escape the Hell God placed under her, but there were more reasons to avoid revolution. She knew that with her death, Jamil would beat on the others, maybe even more so because of her. The women under his stead were weak, more fragile than the young girl. Despite her age, she had hardened under the young lord’s watch. For better or for worse, she did not known. However, those young girls below her... they wouldn’t be able to endure the beatings that came routine to her day by day. 

It was at these thoughts that Morgiana was reminded of her decision that sealed her fate to Jamil. She had decided long ago that if she couldn’t live for herself, she would live for others.

Though whether her selflessness slowly turned into a selfish view of heroism, she did not know.

Batting away from individualistic values, the slave urged herself up. Despite the rippling aftershocks of the beating were holding her down, Morgiana opened her eyes and managed to exit the tent with only one stagger to her feet.. She craned her neck up, greeting the night sky, its moon ominously looming over the world and Morgiana felt small under its gaze.

It was another night, and after the night, there will be morning. Morgiana had survived another day, and even though it was insignificant in comparison to her years of torment, it held its own meaning to her mind and soul, which screamed to be free no matter what. It was a sign that she was able to live, and how she will continue to live for the day where she could be free, even if it was to death.

Morgiana felt a smile on her lips, and she touched her bruised lips softly; chapped beyond what one would deem healthy. “What a beautiful night.”

* * *

It was a horrible night.

Kougyoku sautered towards the corners of the ballroom, clenching her cup in both of her shaking hands. The princess barely made any efforts to be festive amongst the jolly, hell, she could barely make a smile. Kougyoku could only stare at the ripples of her cup, which contained only water, and stare at her own pitiful face.

Her eyes were wide, almost sad. Her cheeks were not flushed and there was only fat around her baby face. She did not look like a respectable princess, as her other, half-sisters were. She was Kougyoku, the slum kid who was taking pity on by the examination of her hair. 

It was in her gloom that she had been bumped. She stumbled, frantically trying to catch the falling glass. Though the princess had managed to save the glass from its doom, she didn’t think she could save herself from her own troubles as her eyes are reflected by a madness that seemed to consume her.

She bumped into a boy who shined bright with black, ivory hair and shining red eyes that bore into her entire being. He had a scowl in an otherwise pretty face, and he looked ready for blood.

“I—I’m so sor—sorry,” she managed to stutter out. “I—I didn’t mean to—”

“Shut up,” the boy said. His eyes were roaring with anger now. “I don’t need your fucking excuses.” 

Kougyoku pulled further into herself. Repeating the word “useless” as she often does.  _ Why can’t you do anything right? _ She mourned.

“Now, now,” a voice called out to them. The boy had looked at the sound of the voice, while Kougyoku looked down. “You shouldn’t intimidate the young princess, Judar.” A hand had forced her head to look up, and Kougyoku was almost in awe of this woman’s beauty. Her eyes twinkled like the darkness of the sea, and her hair glistened with the same shades of a mist. Her face was powdered to compliment her features, and her smile was beautiful in its radiance. There was no fat on her bones, but the arm outstretched to lift Kougyoku’s head seemed to hide scars and muscle underneath her robes. 

“S’not my fault.” The boy, Judar, muttered. “She bumped into me first.” His face was sprinkled with a bit of pink, and Kougyoku wondered if the boy was also encaptured by the woman’s beauty.

“Now, now,” the woman said again. “You shouldn’t blame others for your mistakes, Judar. Apologize to the young lady now.”

The boy stared—no,  _ glared _ at her, and Kougyoku felt a bit more nervous under both of their gazes. Their features strikingly pretty, especially when put in contrast of her own. “Yeah, sorry.” He said rather apathetically, and he had grabbed the beautiful woman away from her. Kougyoku watched as they disappeared into the crowd, and wondered if the woman was truly waving at her. She couldn’t really tell as they were eaten up by the crowd. 

Knowing that nothing else was left for her, she moved to hide against the wall once more. As she looked down at the ground, the princess noticed that partial parts of her dress had fallen victim to her fall. She sighed, but happy that she had an excuse to escape the evening. 

Kougyoku told one of her maids of her departure, and headed outside away from the party. Before she left, she was stopped with a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at the owner of the hand and sees her brother, Kouen. The young girl was surprised to see him, as they held little to no contact with one another (or tried to for the sake of appearances. She still counted all of the times where she and Kouha would watch both Big Brother Kouen and Koumei about etiquette as family shenanigans and times of familial togetherness.. In those moments, she truly felt like they made up their own family, even if Kouen still struggled to remember her name or to remember Kouha’s gender).

“Are you alright?” Kouen’s face was scrunched up, as if he ate something sour. 

Kougyoku nodded, knowing he would not berate her for telling the truth. “I do not care much for festivities, I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, but  _ are you alright _ ?” He asked, his voice more stressed.

Kougyoku blinked, not sure what he means. He noticed this uncertainty and reiterated himself: “the woman you were talking to, did she do anything?”

“Oh, no. She just had the Oracle, um, Judar apologize for bumping into me.” She responded, though her voice was lowered. There was concern in her brother’s question, and there was a rising discomfort of being watched. Kougyoku would know, after all of the looks directed to her since her abrupt arrival to the palace.

Kouen, bless him, noticed her lowered tone. “Is that all that happened?”

“Yes, but you should hurry back to the party. I’m sure everyone’s worried about you by now.” Confusion was written on her elder brother’s face this time, and the smaller of the two hurriedly escaped his grasp. “You mustn’t worry others, elder brother! You don’t know who possesses the highest concern for you!” She hoped that her convoluted message would get to her brother. His eyes twinkled with recognition and she believed that he would be fine. With this new knowledge and a hope for both of their safeties, Kougyoku fled back to her "home", her own isolated palace filled with nothing darkness.

Only discomfort waited for her in the main palace and in her own "home".

However, that was only the start of the rising tensions between her and her family. Far more than she would have ever imaged, encompassing more places than she ever hoped to see, and to the people she wouldn’t believe she would meet. The young princess, although more farther in the future, would fall in love in the worse places, and would find friendship in the best of them. Everything she knew will break away from her mind, and everything she questioned would fall into place.

All of this was committed by a hasty decision to follow Judar to a slave auction.


End file.
